Dossier En Route!

It's official! Our dossier is en route to Sofia's home country!

It took us almost almost 7 weeks to prepare a stack of documents (worth it's 1 pound weight in GOLD) which gives us permission to adopt a foreign orphan.

This is what was included in our dossier and all of these documents had to be notarized and apostilled:

-Petition for adoption
-Petition to adopt a specific child (Sofia)
-Home study report
-Home study agency license
-Social worker's license
-I-171H form from USCIS
-Employment statement for Hector
-Proof of home ownership (from our mortgage company)
-Proof of home value (from the county assessor's office)
-Medical certificate stating Hector is healthy and free from disease, etc.
-Medical certificate stating that I am healthy and free from disease, etc.
-4 Passport copies of Hector
-4 Passport copies of me
-State police clearance on Hector
-State police clearance on me
-2 Letters of obligation
-5 Power of Attorney documents
-Copy of the medical doctor's license that performed our physicals
-2 Petitions for Interpol
-Copy of our 1040 tax form from last year

Again, all of these documents had to be notarized and THANK YOU to our friends that donated these services to us for free. I think we only had to pay a UPS notary once on a document that we needed at the last minute. Then, all of these documents needed to be apostilled at the Secretary of State Office which is conveniently located here in our hometown of Sacramento and every document listed above (all 32 pieces of paper!) had a fee of $20 per apostille...yikes! California sure knows how to stick it to you! Other states do not charge for multiple copies of the same document (which would have really saved us!) and some states even put a limit on the cost of apostille for adoption purposes (for example I think Texas doesn't charge more than $100 total for adoption dossiers).

Regardless, Sofia is worth every penny and thanks to the amazing support of our community through donations we hope to cover most of these costs!

Now the wait begins. The dossier will probably arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday in Sofia's home country. They will have to translate it and then if everything looks good, it will be submitted around March 25th. Then, after it is approved we will be given a travel date!

Sofia, we are one GIANT step closer to meeting you and bringing you home!